Killing Dr. da Cunha - The Scramble for the Amazon and the Lost Paradise of Euclides da Cunha - page 369

said he let go of Euclides, turned to race to his own room and get his weapon, and was
hit in the nape of the neck with the fifth bullet fired by Euclides. In the midst of the
shootout, Solon, who reported Dinorah yelling to his brother to “grab the other gun and
finish him off,” also picked up his pistol with the intent of avenging his father by killing
Dilermando, shouting, “You've killed my father!” as he raced to the front of the house,
but he was quickly disarmed by Dinorah. Dinorah made it to his room, where he found
neither his gun nor the strength to return to the gunfight. 69
There was the roar of powerful discharges, and then a blasting silence. Dinorah went
out of his room to see his brother at the top of the entry stairs and Euclides a few meters
away on the concrete walkway in the garden, reflexively, impotently, moving his finger
on the trigger of his little .22 pistol, bleeding from two shots to his chest. 70 Solon then
rushed to his dying father, begging forgiveness. 71 The central question in the trial was
whether Euclides was leaving because he had run out of bullets, and thus Dilermando
shot a fleeing man, or whether he had turned to renew his attack.
Euclides'sshotshadalsohithome:Dilermandohadthreewounds.ButEuclides'spis-
tol lacked the force necessary for mortal damage. The bullets fired by Dilermando in the
househadhitEuclidesinhisarmandwrist—theintentionhadbeentodisarmhim.While
interpretations differ, Dilermando reported later that he didn't know whether Euclides
would continue to attack or not. 72 Euclides may not have had any shells left in his pis-
tol. As he fled out to the front garden, he turned on the porch stairs to face Dilermando,
who then fired the two deadly shots. Euclides fell bleeding with one bullet to his right
lungandanother underhis clavicle. 73 Fontainha, emergingfromthe butcher shop,heard
shots and ran down the road to see the person he had so helpfully directed collapsing,
dying in the front garden.
With everyone bleeding, Euclides was lifted from the garden and carried inside to
Dilermando's bed, where some pointless first aid was applied, including vigorous chest
rubbing and a glass of port. The wounded cadets stood by. “What insanity was this, Dr
Euclides?” asked Dinorah. The final words as Euclides da Cunha's fading gaze took in
his wife, his son, and his detested rival: “I despise you . . . honor . . . forgiveness . . . in-
trigues . . . calumnies . . .” 74
Dilermando spoke to Ana: “I've killed your husband, but I and Dinorah will also die
here”—hehadthreewoundsandDinorahtwo,includingabulletlodgedinhisspine,and
there was every reason to imagine that infection and clumsy tropical surgery would ex-
tinguish the young men as well. 75
A newspaper copy editor, Mario Hora, lived nearby and was a casual acquaintance of
thetwocadets;inhappiertimes,hecarriedoutdiversionswiththemlikeshootingtossed
limes out of the air. Dilermando never missed. In fact, Dilermando practiced his aim
regularly with such gunplay, so the neighbors were not quite as alarmed as one might